GeForce 8800 GT 256MB vs GeForce GT 440 1.5GB

Intro

Compare that to the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB, which has core clock speeds of 594 MHz on the GPU, and 900 MHz on the 1536 MB of GDDR3 memory. It features 144 SPUs as well as 24 TAUs and 24 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		56 Watts
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		105 Watts
	Difference: 49 Watts (88%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce 8800 GT 256MB should be 4% quicker than the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB overall, because of its higher data rate. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		44800 MB/sec
GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		43200 MB/sec
	Difference: 1600 (4%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce 8800 GT 256MB is a lot (more or less 136%) better at anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB. (explain)

GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		33600 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 19344 (136%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high resolution is important to you, then the GeForce GT 440 1.5GB is a better choice, by far. (explain)

GeForce GT 440 1.5GB		14256 Mpixels/sec
GeForce 8800 GT 256MB		9600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 4656 (49%)

Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the bus width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This number is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card could possibly record to the local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel fill rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.